Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Associated with Roots Reveal High Diversity Levels at Different Elevations in Tropical Montane Rainforests

Abstract

(1) Background: Understanding the diversity of communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is the basis for understanding the ecological functions of AMF. (2) Methods: The community diversity and distribution of AMF at different elevations in tropical montane rainforests of Mt. Jianfenfling and Mt. Diaoluo were explored using high-throughput sequencing technology. (3) Results: A total of 283 AMF operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified from roots and the number of unique OTUs was 173, accounting for 61.13% of the total number discovered in these tropical montane rainforests. At different altitudes, high turnovers of AMF were observed, with the maximum proportion of unique OTUs between two altitudes being 45.16%, recorded between a.s.l. 250 m and 900 m on Mt. Diaoluo. The highest Sobs, Shannon and Pielou diversity indices appeared at 650 m on Mt. Diaoluo. For the two mountains, the soil properties of C, N and C/N have significant impacts on the genera Scutellospora, Paraglomus and unclassified in Archaeosporaceae, while the genera Glomus, Diversispora and Acaulospora are significantly affected by soil P and pH. It can be considered that altitude probably determines the presence of AMF communities by affecting edaphic properties. (4) Conclusions: There are abundant AMF associated with roots in the tropical montane rainforests of China. Furthermore, a high turnover of OTUs was found to exist between the mountains and at different altitudes, revealing diverse AMF community structures in tropical montane rainforests.

Diversity characteristics of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities in the soil along successional altitudes of Helan Mountain, arid, and semi-arid regions of China

“…Furthermore, pH and AP were highly significantly and negatively correlated with community diversity. It is possible that pH can affect not only the formation and development of AMF spores (Zhang et al, 2022a), but also indirectly by affecting plant community composition and plant uptake and utilization of soil nutrients (Xu et al, 2017). The effect of AP on AMF community diversity is consistent with the findings of Ji and Bever (2016) and Ceulemans et al (2019), possibly because elevated AP levels inhibit AMF spore germination and mycelial growth and cause plants to reduce root symbiosis with AMF and take up P directly from the soil (Johnson et al, 2015;Shi et al, 2021).…”

Reduced Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) Diversity in Light and Moderate Fire Sites in Taiga Forests, Northeast China

“…On the one hand, they obtain nutrients from plants to complete their own growth and development [ 9 ]; on the other hand, they can also improve the host plant, improve the root surface area and inter-root absorption range of the host plant, and increase the ability to absorb water and nutrients from the soil, playing an important role in plant growth and development [ 5 ]. Previous studies showed that environmental factors obviously affected arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi growth and distribution [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]. Forest fires, as an important disturbance factor in forest ecosystems, have a profound effect on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi composition and function though changing soil nutrients, e.g., forest fires have a significant effect on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi infestation rate, species composition, density, and reproduction [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”

Variations of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi following succession stages in a tropical lowland rainforest ecosystem of South China

“…However, other studies showed that the soil AMF had no response to the diversity and productivity of vegetation (Bauer et al, 2015). In pasture and secondary natural succession, the biomass and catabolic diversity of soil microbial communities were regulated by soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil nitrogen (SN) (Iyyemperumal et al, 2007;Zhang et al, 2022).…”